‘Horrifying’ experiments

Activists in Australia working on behalf of non-human animals have reacted with horror to a scientific-journal image showing a mouse being squeezed into a small plastic chamber to inhale cigarette smoke, according to a story by Nelson Groom for Daily Mail Australia. [The picture is similar to the one shown alongside this report.]

The photograph depicts research being carried out by scientists at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales to contribute to research into respiratory diseases.

In one of the experiments, the mice were put into the smoking chamber for up to 45 minutes, twice a day for five days a week, for up to 12 weeks.

Humane Research Australia (HRA) spokesperson Robyn Kirby told Daily Mail Australia she was shocked to see this research was still being funded in 2017.

‘It’s horrifying,” she said. “We see some pretty awful research, but this image shocked us.”

She said the HRA had hoped that forcing mice to smoke would be a thing of the past, and that the organization was pursuing the matter.